The use of rodent bait stations to house and present bait to a rodent population has steadily increased through the years due to the increased toxicity of rodent baits and the need to isolate these poisoned substances from contact with the environment.
Most common are the types of bait stations that contain a cover unit that caps the baiter, along with a separate feeding tray, that allows for the distribution of bait in the tray elemement.
Various maze type baffles and internal structures have been designed to inhibit tampering with the contents and the more popular bait stations contain internal tray structures that hold the bait in a selected area.
The structures and designs of the most advanced of these bait stations are characterized in patents; 43/131 U.S. Pat. No. 4,132,026 1/1979 Dodds, 43/131 U.S. Pat. No. 4,161,079 7/1979 Hill, 43/131 U.S. Pat. No. 4,349,981 9/1981 Sherman, 43/131 U.S. Pat. No. 4,349,982 9/1982 Sherman, 43/131 U.S. Pat. No 4,400,904 8/1983 Baker, 43/131 U.S. Pat. No. 4,541,198 9/1985 Sherman, 43/131 U.S. Pat. No. 4,648,201 Sherman and foreign patent 43/131 No. 2111022 9/1972 Federal Republic of Germany
All of the above patents advanced the state of the art in bait containment and presentation but were bulky to ship and basically allowed the convenient use of only one type of bait at a time.
Even when two compartments were present, the proximity of the compartments to one another led to the intermingling of baits and to possible competition for the food sources when more then one rodent entered to feed.
Additionally, the bait trays were an integral part of the structure of the unit which made the filling of the baiters more difficult and led to the overuse of baits because of the propensity of the user to fill both compartments, even when one had not been attacked by the rodents.
The instant invention provides the user with a bait containment structure that can be easily loaded from either end, has the facility to conveniently use more then one type of bait, ie; blocks or granular, shields the bait from prying hands, allows two or more rodents room to feed at the same time and can be knocked down and stacked for ease of shipment and storage.
Additionally, the unique entrance portals act to shield the bait trays from the exterior while providing the longest distance from the opposing portal, thereby allowing a rodent the most space in which to feed and preen as it consumes the bait.
The use of two distinctly separate compartments, spread at opposing ends of the structure makes the loading of bait more efficient because only one side of the unit need be opened and that being the side that bait has been consumed.
In general, the instant invention teaches a method of construction and design that more efficiency presents rodent bait to the target species and one in which a methods of novel bait distribution is demonstrated.
This, along with the unique qualities inherent in the two open ends, brings a new dimension to bait containment and efficient usage.
The scope of the teachings are not limited by the narrative alone but, along with the drawings demonstrates significantly advanced features that are not found in stations that are available today.